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Topic Review (Newest First)

04-14-2009 08:48 PM

CaptainForce

Gary, For a photo of the boat that I referred to google: morgan 27 for sale This should bring up a photo for a "sailboatraderonline" selection that may be similar to the vessel you have in mind. For $800 you have a lot of leeway with expectations.

04-14-2009 05:45 PM

Jeff_H

To answer your question, the Morgan 27 was an IOR era race boat that was built by Morgan years before Catalina got involved in the company and long before Catalina started applying the term 'Classic' to the Out Island series. I raced these boats back in the 1970's and early 80's. They were definitely a mixed bag.

In their day these were pretty fast little boats. They were designed around the earliest IOR rule and have some of the quirkiness of early IOR boats.

These boats were reasonably fast upwind, and compared to boats of that era were pretty quick downwind as well. They were prematurely made obsolete by boats like the J-24, Kirby 25, and Capri 25, which were all so much more versatile and so were able to beat the Morgan 27 on all points of sail and in all conditions.

These boats took a very large crew to race competatively. With their small mainsail/ large jib sail plan they took a very large sail inventory as well. Performance was extremely related to having exactly the right sail up for the conditions. They were extremely difficult to control downwind in a seaway.

Build quality on these boats was miserable. They were known for keel attachment problems, rudder problems, bulkheads shifting etc. The shroud configuration on the boat that I raced on was such that in a heavy breeze the topsides with oil can in on the weather side and would pop out as you tacked with a very audible boom. As I understand it many of these boats have been modified to eliminate this problem and that some of the last boats had some kind of factory fix. The electrical systems on these boats were always a problem although some of that may have been related to the owner wired instruments on the boat that I raced on and racing out in the Atlantic we took a lot of water down below.

These were not great light air boats. Neither did they do as well in a chop as the boats like the 1970's MORC types like the J-24, Kirby 25, and Capri 25 mentioned above.

Gary, Does it have the molded step up into a cut-away transom? Post a photo. If it's the same model Morgan I'm thinking of they were very competitive performance boats. I knew three owners of these boats back in the 1970's-90's. I don't remember them having any significant problems with them. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

I,ve not actually seen the boat yet. It is about 90 miles away from me so I was hoping to get some background before I treck out there. I will see what I can find out on the specifics..

04-14-2009 05:37 PM

CaptainForce

Gary, Does it have the molded step up into a cut-away transom? Post a photo. If it's the same model Morgan I'm thinking of they were very competitive performance boats. I knew three owners of these boats back in the 1970's-90's. I don't remember them having any significant problems with them. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

04-13-2009 06:21 PM

gedaggett

Any thoughts on a 1975 27'morgan classic

I have an oportunity to get a 27" morgan classic for about $800 asking price. I don't know much about these boats and i am getting it as a project. I was wondering about availability of sails, any common things to look for with this specific model and generally what you guys think about this boat. Is it easily setup for single handed, what kind of waters can it handle (I know that has a lot to do with the skipper) or Anything you have would be helpful.